I Need You
by Tabetha Winters
Summary: He missed Coach's loud booming voice and constant encouragement, Ellis' never ending stories about times that he and Keith spent together and how much he loved the Midnight Riders, and Rochelle…he missed everything about Rochelle.
1. Chapter 1: Hate Me Today

Being a long time reader of Left 4 Dead stories (both of the orginal and Left 4 Dead 2) I finally decided to throw my hat in the ring and write this. Mostly inspirted by my new favorite pairing of Nick/Rochelle, but also by the great stories writen by T'starla, I decided to write a little bit of an alternate reality story. I'm not going to say too much because I don't want to spoil it. But I think it's going to be a pretty good story. Please give it a change, I hope I wasn't too wordy or too out of charater, but I think this will be a good story. So please when you finish please don't forget to review.

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Chapter 1: Hate Me Today

The highway seemed to stretch on forever, as the heat of the afternoon bore down on him, as he walked. Nick decided he hated walking; walking seemed to get him nowhere, but further away from where he wanted to be, and now, as he felt a wave of exhaustion hit him, he wanted to be done. But he couldn't give up. He had made a promise, and he needed to keep it.

Feeling something side down his face he release his hold on his shot gun and wiped his cheek only to realize it wasn't sweat that beaded his face, but instead another liquid. He was crying again. Damn it. He whipped vigorously at his face scolding himself mental, he wasn't going to do this again. He wasn't.

Returning his free hand back to his shot gun, he realize he had reached the end of the road, and upon looking up he noticed that the highway it had broken off and the rest of the road and seemed to stretched several feet above him. Cursing loudly he glanced around for someway to reach the broke part.

And that's when he noticed it.

A very large cream, and now blood covered, R.V. stood half in the dirt half on the broke part of the highway next to him. The R.V. was tall enough that if he stood on it he could just barely grab the highway and maybe pull himself up. Just maybe.

Releasing his vice like grip he held on his gun he walked over to the back of the R.V. and began to climb the latter on the back of it to the room. The rungs of the latter were wet, possibly from the rain that had occurred earlier, but he moved up them, slowly at best.

Reaching the top he began to move slowly along the top of the R.V. till he reached the front. Stepping on his tip toes he could barely, just barely, see over the top of the road. Realizing that there was nothing there waiting to attack him, Nick tossed his shot gun up onto the ledge where he heard it clattered a few times before coming to rest. Reaching up and grabbing the ledge he hoisted himself up onto it, with a bit of effort, before walking over and snatching his shot gun.

Glancing down the long high way he noticed several empty abandoned cars along the road, but he tried to push past those thoughts as he kept his shot gun erect in front of him, it was just him now, no one to save him, and if he got his ass pined by a hunter it was all over for him.

Turning his attention back to the road, he began to move fast despite the protest of his exhausted legs, until he saw it. A large road sign that seemed to appear out of nowhere, blinking at him, as if beckoning him to keep moving forwards.

Feeling a slight pain at his side he flinched slightly, possibly reopening a wounded from a hunters pounce earlier, but he didn't slow, holding the gun limply at his side he broke out into a run towards the sign.

**MILATARY EVACUATION CHECK POINT**

Nick staggered in his last few steps, it was almost too real that he had read this point, and when he reached the sign he stopped, using his left arm to steady himself as he gasped for breath. Standing up again, he noticed several armed men, in military dress, running towards him and Nick ready himself, if they weren't friendly, Nick wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Sir!" cried the first human voice that he had heard in days and he felt a wave of relief come over him from it. "Drop the weapon and proceed over here, slowly." The men were a few hundred feet away from him; their guns erect and pointed towards his chest. They meant business and Nick wasn't about to screw this up, this close to the safe zone.

He bent down placing the shot gun down on the highway. Missing the heavy feeling of the gun in his hand he rose back to his feet and he slowly walked towards the men before him.

"Arms above your head!" cried the second, and this caused Nick roll his eyes, but he did as he was told not wanting to end his life here because of his cocky sarcasm. He continued to walk towards them slowly. When he finally reached the two men the first one lower his weapon. But before Nick could say anything he was grabbed by the man and forced to the ground.

"What the hell!" cried Nick loudly as he went down hard on his knees. They didn't say anything to him; instead the second man held the gun to his back as the first began to pat Nick down. Coming up with nothing they force Nick back to his feet and pushed him forward. Nick stumbled a bit, but recovered, before being shoved by the second man with his gun.

"Move." Came the deep voice of the second man and Nick grumbled under his breath, he wanted nothing more then to have his shot gun right now. He would show these jackasses what it would mean if they fuck with him, but he bit at his lip as he was forced down the highway. After all he made a promise, and that promise was to survive.

--

Nick had gone though so many test and filled out so much paperwork that he swore he could see blank forms every time he closed his eyes. Rubbing at his face he shifted on his makeshift cot, which the military called his temporary bed, and started at the tent wall.

The tent, which he shared with several other sleeping people, was paper thin and let the light of the moon come streaming in, but that's not what was keeping him awake. Rolling over again his mind began to drift.

His thoughts rested on his teammates. He would have never admitted this out loud and if you were to tell them this, he would deny it, but he missed them. He missed Coach's loud booming voice and constant encouragement, Ellis' never ending stories about times that he and Keith spend together and how much he loved the Midnight Riders, and Rochelle…he missed everything about Rochelle.

He had grown a soft spot for her most of all.

Nick felt the cold tears start to sting his eyes again, and try as he might, he couldn't force them to go away. He hated that he felt this way. He hated that he had been force, by that hurricane of a storm, away from his friends. The only people he had left in this hell on earth. He tried for days to find them, and after giving up, promised himself, for his friends…and for Rochelle that he would keep going, that he wasn't going to give up and, as he lay on the cot, he knew, that for now, he had kept his promise.

So why couldn't he sleep. Why was he continuing to agonize himself over the thought that his friends were still out there somewhere, looking for him, trying to keep themselves alive, and he was temporarily safe in a military evacuation zone.

Cursing silently to himself as he rolled over on the bed again he tossed his blankets to the floor and sat up. Hanging his feet over the side of the bed he rested his elbows on his knees and his face in the palms of his hands.

"Fuck me," he replied softly "They should be here with me right now, not out there, where god knows what is waiting to attack them."

Nick groaned again lying back on the cot. His felt the tears start to fall down his face again, but this time he wasn't going to wipe them away, why should he, he deserved to feel like shit after what happened. Why was he the only one to survive and not them…why?

With that final thought going though Nick's brain, he fell into a restless sleep.

--

_The rain wasn't letting up as the four survivors' trecked back to the boat, the wind was wiping so hard that Nick was having a hard time seeing. Coach had taken the lead after they passed the sugar mill, and he hoped the older man knew the way, because though the rain everything looked the same._

_"This way!" came Coach's booming voice and Nick glanced up to see what Coach was pointing at. A single dull light glowed in the distance, of which he figured was the safe room, Rochelle was to his right, struggling slightly with the heavy gas tank on her back, while Ellis was to his left, one of his hands on the top of his head trying to keep his "lucky" baseball cap upon his head, while his other held a magnum. Rochelle glanced at him slightly as she held her ax tightly in her hand, Nick just hoped that she would be able to swing that thing against the wind at any infected. But it wouldn't matter, they would be there to protect her, he would._

_Nick reached out and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder forcing her along with him, trying to keep her going. If she fell, he was worried a hunter would get her, and though this rain, he was worried he wouldn't hear her scream if she got pounced._

_Coach called out again and Nick glanced up realizing that the red safe room door was right in front of them. Ushering them inside Nick pulled the door shut behind them. The wind was still whipping loudly outside and from what he could see the rain continued it torrential downpour._

_Rochelle had taken the gas tank off her shoulders, placed it against the wall with her ax, and Nick followed suit. But along with that he tossed off his drenched jacket and placed it on a nearby chair._

_"We're not too far now, and maybe once this storm lets up we can keep going and signal __Virgil's and get the hell out of here."_

_"Sounds good to __me.__" Replied Ellis from another room, when he returned Nick noticed the boy held several large candy bars in his hands. He began to distribute the candy bars to his friends and within seconds of being finished opened his and began to gobble it down._

_"Ellis, sweetie, slow down, you're going make yourself sick."_

_"Or you'll choke." Replied Nick, "And when you're dead you'll be even less use to us then you are now."_

_Rochelle shot him a glare, but he returned it with a smug rolled of his eyes. Ellis however, unaffected by Nick's word continued to chew on his candy bar before speaking again._

_"Did I ever tell you about that one time Keith nearly coke to death during a hotdog eating contest, you see we go to the county fair every year and the champion was an old high school bully of Keith, and Keith not being one to back off from a competition decided…"_

_However Coach stopped the man before he could continue. "Eat up Ellis; we've got a big fight ahead of us in a few hours."_

_"Alright." Replied Ellis, and despite Nick's teasing he did slow down to finish eating the rest of his chocolate. When he was finished he walked over to one of the corners of the safe room and was asleep before the others had known it._

_"You're going to hurt his feelings you keep teasing him like that."_

_"Ellis can take it, he's tough."_

_"Still you don't need to be a jerk to him, despite what you may think he's grown attached to you, and you're words can hurt him in ways you don't know. We're a team now and we've all got to look out for one another, not break one another down."_

_"Have you've grown attach to me too Rochelle?" asked Nick smugly his arm coming to rest on around Rochelle's shoulders, but she quickly shrugged him off._

_"In you're dreams Nick." she replied to him, however, a smile was on her face as she spoke which caused him to smiled back at her._

_"If you only knew sweetheart." He replied smugly before grabbing his chocolate where he had set it and made his way to his cot. Opening it slowly he broke off a small part of it and began to chew on it as he sunk to the floor of the safe room. Leaning against the wall he broke off another piece and began to chew on it. However, after this bite he felt his eyes slowly becoming heavy and before long he drifted off into sleep._

_--_

"Alright people, file out, transport is here!" cried a voice and Nick woke up with a jolt. Glancing around he recognized the walls of the tent and the people that he occupied it with. He slow rose to his feet along with the other people of the room and made his way towards the exit with everyone else.

Upon leaving the tent the bright light of the morning blinded him, and he used his hand to shade his eyes while they adjusted. In the distance he noticed a large army transport truck, make that several of them, and people were getting loaded into them.

"You're going to be taken by these trucks to the safe zone, at no time shall you request for the trucks to be stop, at no time shall you try to exit the trucks unless told by military personnel to do so. When you reach the safe zone you shall be given further instructions on what to do. No let's move people."

Nick groaned rubbing at his face, trying to shake the tired from his eyes. As more and more people filed down the highway towards the truck Nick took a glance behind him, hoping in some way that he would see Rochelle, Ellis or even Coach following him, however, he was disappointed when he saw nothing but a sea of faces he had never seen before.

Getting into the truck Nick sat on one of the bench seats and held his face in his hands. He rested back against the metal of the truck, as soon as the last person filed in Nick saw his last glimpse of daylight as the doors shut and the interior lights click on emitting a soft glow and the trucks sped off to god knows where.

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Also if I've got any facts wrong please let me know. I'm sure I've got pretty much everything right, but I'm sure I've gotten something wrong. To error is human right? :)


	2. Chapter 2: Embracing Darkness

Wow! Just wow! I want to thank everyone who review last chapter. You've not only kept me going but made me feel guilty that I didn't get this up sooner (not in a bad way or anything, I just felt like I owed you guys something for waiting so long). I really appreciate all the positive feed back that I have gotten in the last chapter. I really wanted to make a good impression with my first left 4 dead story and you guys were amazing in response. Thank you so much. I meant to have this chapter up by Christmas but I failed there so think of this as your belated Christmas gift.

By the way I bumped up the rating a bit. I realized after I reread the second chapter that I had too many swears for it to say a T rating, so I bumped it to M just to be safe.

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Chapter 2: Embracing Darkness

_The black smoke towered overhead mixing with the rain clouds, making it almost of an out of body experience as he got closer to the building. His throat dried instantly as the orange and yellow flames danced across his vision, the warmth licking his face, though the pouring rain. Nick felt like he couldn't breathe, fear and anxiety choking him. _

_But Nick couldn't move as he watched the flames continue to rage though the Burger Tank wrecking the entire building in the process. His gun, now hanging limply in his right hand, felt heavy and useless to him, and it clattered to the ground next to him as it fell from his hand._

_The sign on the roof of the Burger Tank flicker a few times but remained dark and practically invisible though the rain and the smoke. Everything…everything was destroyed. Before Nick knew what he was doing he rain towards the Burger Tank, his heart pounding in his chest. __But it wasn't long before he realized it wasn't just he building that was aflame, behind the Tank Burger where the fire raged on burning larger and hotter._

_It was destroyed. _

_This was a nightmare, one that Nick wanted to wake himself out of, but Nick couldn't take his vision away from the sight. He fell to his knees in front of the large wreckage that was once the dock, the fire racing across the water and along the dock engulfing. Everything… everything was on fire. _

_Long wooden planks lay on the ground around the remains of the dock most of them scolded, blackened by fire, or destroyed. But one plank caught his attention. This plank wasn't like the rest, but like the rest, had been darkened by fire and smoke. Despite that, however, the wording on it was still legible. A shaky hand reached out and grabbed the plank up in his hands and examined it._

_To anyone else the writing on this plank would mean nothing to them, but to Nick, this meant everything. Nick felt pain weld up in his chest as the tears started to mix on his face with the rain that was falling down upon him._

_Lagniappe_

_This was the plank off of the front of Virgil's boat._

--

The rescue vehicle rocked roughly, jerking Nick out of his dream. Rubbing his eyes with his free hand he squinted though the dim light of the vehicle before he realized where he was. Nick entire body felt stiff, how long had they been traveling for? He didn't know anymore, but of the several people inside over half of them where asleep, the others, barely seemed to preoccupied in their own heads to care.

The dream seemed to resurface, the fire and the wrecked boat, but Nick shook it away. He didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to…

The vehicle slowed to a crawl and then stopped the lights blackout inside and Nick felt a wave of panic wash over him. What the hell was going on? The back door of the vehicle released the door slowly opened to nighttime outside. Overhead were several large stadium lights blinding down on them slightly illuminating the inside of the vehicle. Several more military men entered inside, their guns which Nick noticed where automatic rifles handing off their shoulders.

"You're going to exit the vehicles in an orderly and timely manner." Called the voice of the first solider. "When you exit, follow the lines down to the entrance. If any military personnel asks a question of you are to answer it without question. Anyone who disobeys shall be shot on site."

'Shit' thought Nick as he rose to his feet, his legs weak from sitting for so long, however he follow the line of people exiting, 'they are fucking around are they?'

The first thing Nick notice when he left the transport truck was how cold it was air was cold, he could see his breath rise above him though the blinding stadium lighting overhead, and Nick's pulled at the tattered remains of his suite's jacket, that hung on his body, around him.

There were about a hundred idling transport trucks lining the tarmac on the opposite side of large barriers which were set up, and at each fifteen steps there was an armed guard watching the people walking in. Nick almost felt like a prisoner rather then a survivor and a feeling of familiarity hit him as memories of his past rushed back towards him, but he quickly shook those thoughts from his head. Nick felt the cold butt of a gun come to his back as he glanced behind him noticed a military man was shoving him forward. "What are we prisons now?" asked Nick but this just cause the man to hit him in the back again. Grumbling under his breath, Nick began to follow the flow of the crowd.

That's when Nick noticed was the large building in the distance. The building itself was made of pure cement and looked like an old fallout bunker. It had no windows but instead a large red steel door that, which reminded Nick of the metal of the safe room doors, which was open to the large crowd of people around Nick who were making their way towards.

"What the hell do you mean that you're separating us!" a loud shout echoed though the surrounding area. Confused Nick noticed a group of four people were standing off to the side of the large metal doors. A large man, most likely in his mid 30's, heavily tattoo, sporting a bikes vest and a buzz hair cut was standing with a group of other people, two other men, one old man a wearing a green, rather warn, military beret, and the other was a younger man, black, wearing office wear that had seen better days, and then there was a woman with them, but Nick could hardly call her that. She looked barely 19, but seemed tough as nails, skinny as a twig wearing a red hoodie and her brown hair in a pony tail high on her head.

"Sir, get back into line." Replied the solider the biker was arguing with. He had his automatic rifle pointed at the biker's chest. However, the biker looked less then fearful, in fact, Nick wondered why he hadn't overpowered the man yet. "Segregation is for her protection as well as yours…"

"Fuck your segregation," spat the biker back at him. "She's been with us since the beginning and I'm sure as hell not turning her over to you assholes because of some bullshit rule that you've decided to make up."

Nick couldn't believe it. They were segregating the men and the women from one another? Who decided that bullshit rule? This, for a moment, made Nick almost grateful that Rochelle wasn't here right now, because he for damn well sure knew that he wasn't going to let these assholes get their hands on her.

"Sir, if you don't let us take her to the woman's area right now I've been given order to shoot you."

"Try me." Replied the biker not stepping down, for a moment the young man looked fearful of the biker in front of him and Nick almost wonder if he had it in him to use it on him.

"Francis." Called the woman from behind him and he tore his glance from the solider to her, the look on her face was almost painful to see. She placed her hand on his shoulder and the two stared at one another for a few seconds before he reluctantly moved out of her way. The woman stepped forward and the solider placed a hand on her shoulder and led her to another part of the bunker.

Nothing was said for the longest time between the three men before him. The oldest of the group reached into the pocket of his camouflage pants and removed the contents, a lighter and a thin white cigarette, which he lit up before returning the lighter to his pocket. The smoke rose slowly into the air as the man placed it between his chapped lips as he stared at Francis, who still remained silent and Nick wondered who would be the first to say something.

"Francis." Replied the younger man and Francis shot him a look that if looks could kill he'd be dead several times over by now. "Zoey's going to be ok, she's going…"

But before he could say anything else Francis very abruptly cut him off. "Louis…I don't need a God damn pep talk right now."

With that Francis walked away from the group and into the bunker. Louis glanced at the older man and he shook his head at Louis removing the cigarette from his mouth, tossing it to the ground and putting it out with his foot.

The two of them disappeared into the building and Nick realized that he was by himself on the tarmac with a couple of armed guards behind him. Glancing behind him at the guards and then back towards the hanger doors he realized how alone he was in this god forsaken place. Walking inside the darken building the doors began to shut behind him the instance he steps inside. The loud metal scrapes echoed though the building, as the door scraped on the cement as it shut behind him, engulfing him once again in darkness.

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So here's chapter 2. A tiny bit shorter but I hope that you guys love it. I really hope so. I hope that this chapter doesn't confuse anyone, but there's more to it which is to be explained later on, and yes I did do a left 4 dead 1 and left 4 dead 2 cross over, but no it won't be overly worked into the story, I just felt like they didn't bring anything up about what happened with the surviors from l4d 1 and plus I need a woman that I could show what the goverment was doing when they arrived at the safe zone.

So anyways, pleases don't forget to review, but please make sure that if you have something to say please put detail about what I did wrong. I don't like review that just say crap that doesn't make sence and doesn't do anything but flame me. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3: Moment Lost In Time

Hi everyone! I'm back. I'm so sorry for the long wait on this chapter but I hope that the length of this chapter more then makes up for it. I know that I have been doing a lot of flashbacks because I started the story towards the end and am making my way back though using dream and memories as flashbacks. Please if anyone is confused please let me know and I'll make up some sort of time line on my profile and I'll ad something to the authors notes as the end of the chapter to explain where the flashback at the end happens.

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Chapter 3: Moment Lost In Time

Nick has spent the better half of the morning in a cement room, no windows and a locked door, wondering if it was worth it to be here with the military or back out on his own after all. Out there, even though they didn't have much food and had the worry of zombies coming and curb stomping his ass to death Nick was at least able to do something, not caged up like a rat, without any freedom.

Standing up from his cot Nick walked around the room, there were three other beds in this room along with a plain wooden desk and a bookcase with several old copies of national geographic, sadly not the dirty ones, and some old magazines dating back to 1996.

Two rows of florescent lights flickered over head and Nick wondered if this remote outpost was able to handle this much activity. Being home to about 200 survivors and over two dozen military personnel on a building this old wasn't that good for it.

The door opened on the other side of the room and Nick turned. There were two armed guards standing in his doorway. Nick moved further back in the room. He wasn't going wherever they were going to take him that was for damn sure.

However, the two guards moved away from the door and instead three other men moved into the room. Nick was surprised as the men had seen outside earlier were the ones that were filing into the room.

The door shut behind him and the sound of it locking rang throughout the room and then there was silence, which was almost deafening, as the four men looked at one another. Francis moved from the center of the room and laid down on the of the cots covering his eyes with his arm, however, Louis and the other guy still stood there watching Nick.

"I guess were stuck here until the military decided what to do with us." Replied Louis to no one in particular.

"Yeah guess so." Replied Nick.

"What's your name son?" asked the vet as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Nick wondered if the soldiers outside were going to come in here and make him put it out while at the same time wondering if he was going to be able to bum one off of him.

"Nick." He replied quickly, you mind if I have one of those?"

"Here," he replied holding him out a smoke, Nick accepted it and used Bill's available lighter to light it up. "I'm Bill, that's Louis and the one on the bed is Francis."

"Yeah I saw you outside earlier, you guys always pick fights with people armed with guns or are you just crazy that way?" Nick took a long drag on the cigarette and felt content for the long time in a while as the nicotine rush though his system.

Bill and Louis both glanced away from Nick and over to Francis. He hadn't moved from his spot on the cot yet and they all were wondering what was going though the bikers head right now. Nick noticed the sadden look of Bill's face when he began to speak again.

"Zoey's been with Francis from the beginning. He found her in her college dorm a week after the infection started starting at her roommate, her best friend's, body on the floor dead and pretty much took her with him. I don't think either of them would have been alive without the other."

Nick felt his sharp pain of guilt run though his body and he suppressed the memory of Rochelle and the others that was creeping up on him. He didn't want to think about it. He wasn't going to let himself have a breakdown right now in front of the others. Flicking his cigarette to the cement floor he stomped it out with his foot.

"Yeah I know the feeling." Replied Nick trying to hide the pain in his voice, but it didn't go unnoticed by Bill or Louis.

"Where's the rest of your group at?" asked Louis. "I'm sure you didn't make it this far alone."

"No…no I didn't." began Nick however, before he could continue he was intruped by a loud knock on the metal door behind them. "Lights out!" called one of the solider and within second the lights in the room went out.

"Well shit." Replied Nick. "I'm starting to hate this place more and more everyday I'm here."

"Feels as if I never left the army." Replied Bill.

The made their way to the cots though the dim light of the room and before long all three of them men in the room were asleep.

--

_"92 bottles of beer on the wall, 92 bottles of beer, you take one down pass it around 91 bottles of beer on the wall. 91 bottles of beer on the wall, 91 bottles of beer, you take one down pass it around 90 bottles of beer on the wall…" _

_"Ellis please." Rochelle said rubbing at her tired eyes. She didn't mean to be so short with him, but she was tired, she hadn't slept well in days and she was really starting to get at her wits end. She reached for the water bottle at her hip and was rather disappointed when it was empty. Tossing it to the water it made a small splash and she returned her hands to her pistols. They had been making their way towards Whisper Oakes for the better half of the afternoon, since they left the car back at the start of the highway and now Rochelle was starting to feel her tired body complain and ache in protest._

_"Sorry Ro," replied Ellis sheepishly adjusting his very worn out and mud covered baseball cap. Rochelle turned giving him a small smile, however, before running right into Nick's back. Stumbling slightly feeling the blush come to her face she was about to response when she saw Nick hold a single finger up to his lips to silence her._

_The growling in the distance caught Rochelle attention as she turned and looked towards the trees the swampy muck of this river that they were walking in sloshed under her boots. She knew that sound…_

_"That's a…" began Coach, but before he could even utter the word a loud roar met their ears and a large chuck of concrete was chucked in their direction. _

_Rochelle dove to the right as the piece of concrete went whizzing by her head barely just missing her. She landed in the muddy bank of the river, the muddy water soaking her clothing instantly. She climbed to her feet she looked around noticed Nick clambering to her feet right next to her._

_Taking a second to breathe the tank charged though the trees, seeing tree branches and rocks coming showering down upon her. The Tank roared beating at his chest before turning and eying the survivors, stopping on her, Rochelle could swear he saw the thing give her a glimmer of an evil smile before it charged at her. _

_Gun shots ringing out caught her attention and she turned noticing Nick had open fire on the beast that was charging at them, while his other hand was shoving Rochelle up the bank of the river towards the trees. "Rochelle move!"_

_Rochelle grabbed at the pistol at her waist, her shotgun lying somewhere at the bottom of the muddy river, and began to rattle off shots into the tank barely hitting it as she ran._

_She searched, as she reloaded her pistol, for any signs of Coach or Ellis, but she couldn't make out anything. Rochelle and Nick had run into the trees now and, with the tank hot on their heels, didn't have any other option then to keep running till the Tank had finally fallen._

_Turning and firing more shots into the Tank she suddenly felt her feet slip out from underneath her, the ground came rushing up to her and the last thing she remembered, despite hitting her head rather hard, was the sound of a tank loud roar growing closer to her._

_--_

_When Rochelle awoke the first thing she realized was that she had a pounding headache, she felt as if her head was being split into two. The second thing she realized was that she was in a dark room alone._

_Sitting up rather quickly, which she regretted instantly when the pain came rushing to her, she searched for her gun._

_"Easy Rochelle." Came a voice from the darkness and she quickly recognized it. Light from a flashlight filled the room and the face of Nick soon came into focus. She relaxed slightly falling back onto the bed, but instantly regretting it when a sharp pain came from her shoulder blade._

_Glancing at her shoulder she realized that it was dislocated, must had happened when she had fallen, biting at her lip she groaned loudly as waves of pain were pulsating over her body._

_"Shit." He replied softly grabbing the flashlight from the small table next to the bed and examining her shoulder. _

_"Where are we?" she asked though the pain, as Nick looked at her shoulder. He glanced at her softly as he got up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom, he didn't say anything but came back with a small cloth and held it out to her._

_Confused she looked up at him and for once the hard look fell from his eyes. "Bite down on that, this is going to hurt when I pop it back into place."_

_Rochelle felt the fear wash over her as she quickly put the rag in between her mouth gagging slightly at the taste of the wet cotton. _

_Nick watched her for a moment before getting on the bed and moving behind her. He took a hold of her shoulder and looked at Rochelle. Her breathing had increase and he could feel her shaking slightly from shock as he prepared himself to pop her shoulder back in._

_"On three." He replied. "One…two…"_

_He popped it right back into place before the words left his mouth and her cries of pain were muffled by the cloth, but when they ended her hand instantly went up to removed it._

_"I thought it was on three." She cried softly pulling her arm away from Nick; she instantly regretted her actions because the sudden movement caused the pain returned from her shoulder. For a second she noticed a look of concern on his face, however, it quickly fade as he made his way to the bathroom and returned with a glass of water and a bottle of pills._

_"You were expecting it on three; I wanted to keep your mind off it the best I could." He replied matter-of-factly as he handed her the water and the pills. "I know that must of hurt I've dislocated mine a couple of times before." _

_Rochelle quickly remove a couple of pills and put them in her mouth swallowing them quickly with the water before placing her put down on the nightstand next to the flashlight. She wanted to ask Nick what he had been doing to cause so many dislocations, but she didn't want to pry. "Where are we?"_

_"The hotel by the off ramp." He replied walking over to the metal door and leaning against it. Even though the room was dark she could make out his figure by the light from the bathroom. He looked just as bruised as she felt, his nice white suite now covered in mud and other gun to match the zombie brains that were on it before. "The Tank had chased us pretty far into the woods before it died. When I found you unconscious and no sign of Ellis or Coach so I kept walking, when I found the highway and followed it back to the hotel. On the bottom floor there was this large metal door, we missed it out first time though because there was a large desk leaning against it, and when I opened it I figure we could stay here till you either woke up or I got enough rest I could carry you some more."_

_"The owner of this hotel must have pretty concerned about safety if the room he was staying in had a large metal door on it."_

_"That or he's crazy." Replied Nick, that earn a soft chuckle from Rochelle as she leaned against the pillows, her shoulder was aching but she did her best to ignore it hoping the pills would kick in soon._

_"How long have I been out?" she asked, she didn't really want to know, but the words came spill out of her mouth before she could stop them._

_"Couple of hours." He replied rubbing at his face slightly sitting at the foot of the bed Rochelle was laying on. She could tell he was tired, just like she was, but he never was going to admit to it._

_"Coach and Ellis?" she asked._

_"I haven't seen them," he replied softly. I went looking for them a little by myself but I came back didn't want to wonder too far away just incase something happened."_

_Rochelle looked away from him and to the wall. Her mind began to fill with horrible thoughts. What would happen if they didn't find them again, what happened if they were both dead because they got separated, what if…? Rochelle felt the tears start to return to her face._

_"We'll find them Ro." Replied Nick and she was quickly surprised by his soft tone. Normal if they would have been with the others he would have had some smart ass remark to make about them being in a hotel together alone, but right now she was growing too tired to care._

_"You get some sleep; the door barricade so I think we'll be safe for now and in a few hours we can get walking towards that amusement park and hopeful find Coach and Ellis."_

_"What about you?" she asked. She glanced around the room and soon realized that there was only the one bed to the room. The floor itself was blood covered and dirty and despite even that didn't look rather comfortable._

_"I'm going to sleep on the floor." He replied softly, although she could hear the tired in his voice._

_"Nick, we won't be able to find Coach and Ellis if were both too exhausted to walk." She paused slightly feeling the blush starting to come to her face as she was about to speak the next words. "You can sleep on the bed, I mean if you want to."_

_Nick shot Rochelle a look and she felt the hear rise up from his stared. She wasn't sure what she was thinking right now, but she knew that Nick was just as tired from everything that had gone on so far and she wasn't going to let him loose anymore sleep because of her._

_"With you?" he replied "I don't think so."_

_"What's wrong? I don't bite." She replied jokingly and then added to get a bit of a rise out of him. "Not unless you want me too."_

_This caused a full scale grin to form on Nick's face and she felt her heart beat faster in her chest at this. She meant to only tease him about not wanting to sleep in the bed with her, but it was slowly turning into something more._

_Nick moved over towards Rochelle and she slid further back on the bed coming in contact with the cold wall behind her. Nick lay on the bed with her and she pulled the blanket around them. There wasn't much room on this cot that they were trying to share and whenever Rochelle would bump Nick, or visa versa they would both instantly move away from one another. __The room fell silent as Rochelle could feel Nick close to her again. She rolled over on her side facing away from him and starting at the fading wallpaper on the wall, Rochelle was exhausted but she couldn't get sleep to come as_ both of them lay in the silence, feeling like this was a mistake.

_"Rochelle?" asked Nick_

_Rochelle wondered if she should answer or pretend to be asleep. "Yeah Nick."_

_"Never mind."_

_Rochelle sighed softly, she was going to get any sleep, this was stupid and..._

_Suddenly Nick rolled over and placed a protective arm around her. Shocked Rochelle didn't know what to say to him. If she was even going to say something to him that was. Nick however spoke before she could._

_"Sorry, I can't get comfortable and you're hogging the entire blanket."_

_"Sorry."_

_"Don't worry about it, go to sleep Rochelle."_

_Rochelle felt the heat rise in her face as she lay there with Nick's arm wrapped around her stomach. Surprisingly though, she was really comfortable and within second they were both asleep on that bed._

--

"Rochelle, Rochelle wake up!"

An arm shook her out of her dream. Rolling over she noticed Ellis standing over her. His dirt covered face, his dirty overalls and worn baseball cap all in tack Rochelle groaned slightly.

"We've got to get moving," he replied holding his shotgun in his hands. Rochelle nodded, despite her tired exhausted body she knew that they staying here any long could mean that they could get ambushed by a hoard or worse. Pushing the small cloth she called a blanket off of her she made her way over and grabbed the rest of her belongings off the nearby dress.

Glancing at herself in the mirror she sighed looking at herself. Why, why was she doing this to herself? Nick was dead, she wasn't getting him back, despite how much she wanted him back, and she wasn't going to get him.

"Rochelle." Called Coach from the hallway and she turned putting her medpack on her shoulder and grabbing her duel pistols.

I didn't matter many more, she was going to survive, for Nick she was going to survive. "I'm coming." She called.

* * *

So Rochelle, Coach and Ellis are alive! Yay! But I'm pretty sure most you knew that. Oh well.

The dream that Rochelle has happens before the flashbacks of the last two chapters but instead of being in Nick's POV it's in Rochelle's point of view. Most likely I'm going to pick up the flashback from where it left off on Rochelle's end in the next chapter so I think from now on if I do anymore flashback they will be in the correct order.

Yes I do plan on involving the left 4 dead 1 characters more in the up and coming chapters so look forward to that. And I know that Bill probably wouldn't have shared any of his smoke but meh, I wanted him to. lol.

Please review. More to come!


	4. Chapter 4: Gives You Hell

Chapter 4: Gives You Hell

The thunderous roar echoed behind her as she ran, a large chunk of concrete whipping by her head missing by mere inches. It shattered like glass as it totaled the car it landed on. She could see Coach and Ellis ahead of her, Ellis waving to her like a mad man inside the safe house while Coach was doing all he could to slow the tank down to get her out of its grasps, but it seemed to just enrage the Tank more as it charged towards her.

She felt the tears in her eyes pour out as she urged her tired body onward. She couldn't be anything but mear inches away from the safe room, but she couldn't breathe. 'Don't look back, just keep running.'

"Fire in hole!"

Rochelle looked up in time to see Ellis, a Molotov cocktail lit in his hand, throwing it at the Tank right behind her. The glass shattered at the Tank's feet and flames engulfed his body almost instant, it roared loudly, throwing its large arms up in the air in pain as if trying to beat the fire off of his body, giving Rochelle enough time to reach the safe room.

The safe room door slammed shut loudly behind her, as she fell to the cement floor gasping for air, her gun clattered and disappeared to the corner of the room but she didn't care. The tank's roar died down outside and soon nothing but the glow of the body still illuminated outside.

"You ok Ro?" asked Ellis, she looked up and noticed the man was kneeling down beside her, not able to say anything she gave the man a thumbs up before pulling herself into a sitting position and rest against the wall.

"Girl, that was close."

Rochelle didn't say anything but hung her head downward, she finally was able to catch her breathe but wasn't able to keep the tears that were starting to run down her face to stop.

Ellis watched her, wanting to say something, but didn't, instead he walked back over to Coach and the two of them talked quietly together trying to find something in the safe room to eat before they tried to get some sleep.

Rochelle however knew that sleep was the furthest thing from her mind right now. Right now she was trying to get her body to stop shaking in fear. She'd never admit to Ellis or Coach but she had been terrified. The Tank, every time they took on one of them there was a doubt in her mind, one that said that this would be the one to do them in, and this would be the one that would put them to her end, and almost every time her fears would be unfounded because somehow, somehow they would always barely make it out alive.

"Almost every time." She mumbled to herself, and felt her eyes start to sting as fresh tears threatened to fall.

"Looks like there's nothing to eat here," Coach announced softly walking back across the room and placing his shotgun down on the table and began to search the ammo boxes that lay on the table for shells. Ellis grumbled softly in response and walked over to a nearby chair, "Who want to take the first watch?"

"I'll do it." replied Rochelle getting to her feet wiping her eyes with the back of her arms, not evening caring that there was also fresh blood on her arms as well. She when in search of her gun as Coach cocked fully loaded shotgun.

"Ok Rochelle, you'll go first, I'll take the second watch and Ellis you'll go last, Rochelle don't let me sleep longer then three hours and I'll replace you." Rochelle glance at Coach and noticed the concern look on his face, but she just shrugged in response, she grabbed a nearby chair, the legs making a horrible screeching sound on the concrete as she dragged it.

"Ro," a soft voice came from behind her, she turned around and Ellis stood behind her, his customary shy smile on his face and her automatic riffle in his hands. She smiled slightly accepting the weapon from him and leaned it against the chair that she was planning on sitting in while on watch.

"You ok Ro?" asked Ellis, she glanced at him and noticed the look of concern that was tracing his features, he looked like he was trying to read into what she was feeling, but he knew about as much as she did right now, he mind was racing.

She graced him with a small but fake smile. She wasn't ok, but she wasn't going to worry Ellis about that, the boy worried about too much already, she didn't need to unload her problems on him as well. "Yeah Ellis, I'm fine."

"But you're eyes, they're all puff and you've been cry and..."

"Ellis, get some sleep we've got to move out soon and if I you don't get enough rest I'm not going to put up with you're stories and I'll leave you behind." Coach replied from the corner of the room, he was half dozing already his automatic shotgun resting across his lap.

Rochelle and Ellis chucked at this and Ellis gave Rochelle a hug before walking over toward the tattered blanket that he had made into his makeshift bed. He placed his worn cap over his eyes to sleep and soon his soft snores filled the safe room.

Rochelle sighed softly, mentally thanking Coach, she didn't want to be rude to Ellis but she didn't want to talk about it. She moved her gun from leaning against the chair to leaning against the door and sat in the chair. The chair was just small enough though that she couldn't see outside the window of the safe room door. Getting up she rested the chair against a shelf near the door and sat on the back of the chair and rested her feet on the seat.

Resting her elbows on her knees she continued to stair out the window and at the cascading darkness of the outside. The fire that had engulfed the Tank was now long gone and nothing but the dead body remained outside. She glanced from the body and up towards the stars that flickered softly in the sky. It was a beautiful sight, she often found herself while on watch wanting nothing more then to lie outside and watch the stars.

Yawning softly she tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes, but she felt sleepy, the adrenalin rush her body had gotten while fighting the Tank was starting to slip from her body and now she realized how exhausted she really was. But she still had quite a while till it was time for Coach to take over.

This is when she missed him the most.

Feeling tears starting to sting at her eyes again she rubbed at them to prevent her from crying. Hearing Coach's and Ellis soft snores from the floor she felt her harden exterior start to melt away. Sliding down into the chair again she rested into the back of it and felt a few stray tears start to slide down her face.

"Stupid Nick…I hate you." She closed her eyes feeling tears start to slide down her face again as silent sobs shook her body.

_Rochelle fought against the recoil of her automatic rifle as the Tank roar was heard though the pouring rain around her. Nick next to her was trying to light another Molotov but was having little success, the rain had made the tissue paper and the lighter wet and was making both of them not functioning._

_The Tank charged towards them and Rochelle got to her feet and grabbed Nick's arm and dragged him with her back towards the Burger Tank causing him to loose the lighter in the mud. Swearing loudly Nick pulled his shotgun from his back and shoved the Molotov cocktail back to his belt. _

"_Where the hell are Coach and Ellis." Yelled Nick thought the pouring rain. The Tank's roars were further behind them but the sound of cracking gravel, letting Rochelle know that the giant beast was not going to give up that easily._

"_I don't know," replied Rochelle slowing down slightly but Nick pulled her along with him. The two ran down the road, the rain water splashing soaking them, hoping the Tank would either give up or search after someone else, or they could regroup with the others._

"_Shit!" replied Nick shoving Rochelle downward toward the ground as a piece of cement came flying past them and hit the ground a few feet ahead of them. Nick pulled her back up to her feet quickly, and nearly pulled her arm off as he lead them off the road and though the yard of another house, and though the trees that were behind them._

_The Tank roared the ground shaking as he grew closer and closer to them. Nick hope of the trees slowing him down was unfounded. He almost plowed right though them instantly._

"_Shit Nick what are we going to do?" replied Rochelle as they zigzagged though the trees, they reached the riverbank and they turned back towards the trees seeing the large body of the Tank half way though the tress._

"_Go, run!" replied Nick letting go of her hand and shoving her down the riverbank and back towards the Burger Tank. Rochelle stood there, shocked._

"_Nick I'm not leaving you!"_

"_I'm not arguing with you, go!"_

"_Nick!"_

_The Tank had almost reached the edge of the trees now and Nick pulled out his shotgun and fired a few rounds into the Tank's body. "Go Rochelle, _don't look back, just keep running_!" he yelled again and she felt the tears starting to build at her eyes. She turned rushing down the stream and back towards the Burger Tank and Virgil's boat. Glancing back she noticed the Tank had reached the river bank now and Nick had taken to running the other way firing shots to keep his attention on him as Rochelle got away._

_Rochelle watched at the Tank roared loudly and turned following Nick. She wanted to turn back, wanted to fire on the Tank now that she had the advantage but before she could it was out of sight and back into the trees._

_Rochelle ran down the river bank hoping that she'd find Coach and Ellis and they could help her go after Nick and help him with the Tank. 'If he's still alive, Rochelle you shouldn't have left him!'_

_Dark billows of smoke caught her attention when she go closer and closer back to the boat and what she saw when she reached it was Virgil's boat was up in flames. She slowed in her step slightly as she watched the flames dance across her vision._

"_Ellis! Coach!" she called though the thick smoke that surrounded her. "Ellis!"_

"_Rochelle?"_

_Rochelle looked over as Coach and Ellis emerged from the Burger Tank building. Rochelle rushed over to and clutched Coach's arm._

"_What…what happened, where's Virgil?"_

"_The ship," began Ellis she could tell by the way the boy looked shaken up that something was wrong, "we got swarmed after the Tank attack, I threw a pipe bomb and…"_

"_One of the gas tanks had leaked on the hull of the ship; the explosion from the pipe bomb lit the ship on fire and the entire thing exploded. We have no idea if Virgil got out alive…" Coach rested a hand on Ellis' shoulder trying to comfort the boy, he was shaken up, the pipe bomb and the explosion of the ship, and it was his fault._

_Rochelle felt sorrow wash over her at Ellis' expression, the poor boy was…_

"_Ro, where's Nick?"_

_Panic washed over Rochelle, she had forgotten about Nick when she saw Virgil's boat in flames on the dock._

"_Oh my god Coach, Nick he's being chased by a Tank we have to help him before…"_

_A loud roar rang though the air as they all turned to see a Tank, the Tank Rochelle knew had been chasing her before, come crashing though the Burger Tank after them._

"_Run!!!" cried Coach._

"Rochelle," a loud whispered awoke and she felt Coach's hand on her should shaking her softly. When she opened her eyes she realized that she was in the safe room, the night sky was still evident outside. She had fallen asleep crying last night for she felt the cold, dried tears on her face.

"I…I'm sorry Coach I fell asleep,"

"Baby girl are you ok?" asked Coach, he knelt down next to her and Rochelle never met his eyes.

"Why do you ask?" she replied, but she already knew what Coach was going to say to her.

Coach however didn't say much. He handed her the weapon she had resting against the safe room door and placed his there instead. "He's ok Ro, he's still alive and knowing him, already been rescued."

Rochelle nodded silently before walking over and began to pull her sleeping bag out of a backpack that she had found a few days ago.

"I'll wake you in a few hours when we're ready to go. Ok."

"Ok."

"Ro, Nick will be there waiting for us, he's too smug to let his ass get killed by a Tank, let alone in that fancy suit of is, beside when we do find him alive you can kill him yourself for what he did, that or kiss him, which ever is your reward."

Rochelle didn't know wither to blush or smile at that comment, but instead chose to ignore it and slid into her sleeping bag using her back pack as a pillow. Before long, she was asleep again.


	5. Chapter 5: Holding Out for a Hero

Ok everyone, I'm so sorry for such a long wait. Life just gets away from you sometimes and other things take preference in your life. I'm really sorry though I shouldn't make you wait as many months as I did for this chapter. Please forgive me and I really hope this chapter makes up for it. If you don't like it please leave me a comment and tell me why, or if you do I'd love a review. Thanks everyone. Lots of love!

* * *

Chapter 5: Holding Out for a Hero

_When Nick awoke with a warm body lying next to him, he was confused. Reaching to the floor and feeling around till he found his flashlight, he turned it on; fill the room with its soft glow. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Rochelle's sleeping form against him causing him to smile at her._

_He turned over on the cot, it squeaking loudly under his shifting weight, to examine Rochelle. Her shoulder was still swollen, hot to the touch, but it didn't look like it was giving her too much discomfort otherwise. He was no doctor however, and with no medpack it meant that they had no gauze to wrap it, and there was nothing more that he could do then give her pill and keep the swelling down with ice when they found it, if they found it._

_Nick slid off the bed, readjusting the blanket over Rochelle to keep her warm till they needed to move again and held the flashlight in hand as he moved around the dimly lit room. Hoping to find some supplies to take with them before they left, Nick ended up frustrated finding only a few clips of ammo and a half bottle of aspirin which he pocketed into his jacket. Slim picking to say the least and Nick, and with an injured Rochelle he was hoping to find more. _

_Grabbing what he could Nick made his way to the large metal door and undid the latch pushing it open slowly. The sky was still dark, as if an eternal night had been set on this area, leaving Nick unable to see anything though the windows. But from what he could tell there wasn't much to see. _

_Since they had barricaded themselves in their makeshift safe room it seemed as if an eerie calm had settled itself over the hotel. Nick realized that it left him feeling rather uncomfortable. He couldn't tell if there were any zombies nearby and didn't know how soon it would take them before they left the safe room to figure it out. A creaking from the cot behind him caught his attention and he turned around quickly noticing Rochelle was trying to sit up on the bed. _

_Shutting and locking the door Nick moved to Rochelle side and wrapped his arm around her back and slowly helped her reposition herself so she could sit up and look around the room. "How are you feeling Rochelle," asked Nick._

"_How do you think I'm doing Nick," she replied smartly. "I let's see how you feel after getting into a boxing match with a Tank."_

_Nick chuckled softly at the girls smart tongue, watching her as she slid down her shirt to examine her should. She touched a particularly swollen part and flinched slightly. Nick moved to help her but she shrugged him off as she covered her should back up and looked at him again. _

"_It looks ok," began Nick softly, "But firing you gun might give you a bit of trouble depending on how much the recoil hurts you. We're out of medkits and we've got no gauze, for now I think that you're going to have to put up with it. You going to be ok or should we wait a little while longer?"_

"_How's everything looking out there?" she motioned towards the door, and Nick glanced at it before sighting softly._

"_It's quiet, too quiet out there and it's making me nervous," Nick whispered softly walking back over to the door leaning up against it. "I think we'll be in more trouble the longer we wait, and the chances of catching up with Ellis and Coach and getting a rescue out of her are getting slimmer and slimmer."_

_Rochelle nodded, pushing the blanket off of her body. She stood up slowly groaning out loud, her tired aching body wishing that she would just stay in bed, but she did her best to ignore it. She turned to Nick and smiled. "Let's get going."_

_Despite his own words, Nick really was more in favor of waiting, but Rochelle wasn't going to let him even if he suggested it. They were both exhausted, but they had two friends to catch up to. Nick bent down and retrieved his combat rifle from the floor and reattached the flashlight to the small holder to the top. Nick reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the bottle of aspirin and handed it to her. "Take a couple before we leave, you'll need them."_

"_Thanks Nick," she replied with a smile and popped the top off and took a couple of them before handing the bottle back to Nick and dry swallowing the pills. Rochelle rotated her sore shoulder, groaning softly. It hurt like hell but if she didn't use it, she couldn't defend herself against zombies and leave it all to Nick to keep them safe._

"_Here," replied Nick handing her a pistol from within the coat of his suit. She glanced at him questionably, not happy that this was her only weapon choice, but since her shot gun rested somewhere at the bottom on the lake on the other side of the hotel, she wasn't let with much of a choice. "Just stay close to me, we'll see if we can find you a weapon or we can pick one up when we get to the next safe room."_

_Rochelle glanced up at him, from checking the content of her gun, with a confused look on her face, however, it was quickly replace with a sly smile. "I can handle myself just fine with my pistols Nick; it's you, however, I'm worried about."_

_Nick chucked at Rochelle's wording, wondering if she caught the double mean in her words. Checking the contents of his gun he noticed that he had about a half a clip left and not that many reloads after that, Nick was hoping that they weren't too far from the next safe room so hopefully they could find either another gun or more ammo._

"_Don't worry if you need it, I've got my baseball bat, and I'll keep us covered."_

_Rochelle found herself smiling at Nick's comment, the man seemed to always be able to make a bad situation of them being low on ammo something of a joke and make herself feel better about the whole thing. Nick, even though he didn't look like one, always seemed to be prepared like a boy scout or was able to act like he was and that kept Rochelle reassured._

"_Or you'll be zombie bait for me to get to safety."_

"_Alright Ms. Know-it-all, are you sure that you're ready go? I don't…"  
_

_Rochelle smiled walking over to Nick and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. Nick looked at her as she walked over to the door unlocking it and pulling it open. "Thanks for the concern, but if were ever going to make it out of this situation alive I think now it the time for us to get going."_

"_If things ever get back to normal," began Nick reading his weapon for whatever was out there, Rochelle standing by the door way, her pistol in hand and ready for the oncoming zombies. "I'm taking you on a date."_

_Rochelle smiled slyly as Nick pushed past her into the darkness that overtook the hotel. Rochelle followed close behind, praying that the day that date he promised her would come soon, before they both were dead._

_

* * *

_

Nick awoke to the sound of gun fire echoing down the hallways and he jumped out of bed alert. The other men were already awake; all of them over by the door and trying to pry it open but with little avail.

"What the hell is going on out there?" replied Nick walking over and trying to see out the small window, but from what he could tell the hallways was dark and only the red warning lights were blinking in the hallway.

"The damn military, they've trapped us in here and someone has gone wrong out there, there's no way out and we've haven't got very long till we end up zombie food." Bill spoke as a man of action, and Nick was thankful for it. Hopefully that man of action would help them get the hell out of her.

Louis moved away form the door and examined the room, but Nick didn't know what he could do, the room was noting but four cements walls and the only true exit was that doorway before them. "There has to be another way out of this room."

Nick glanced at the door, sure he knew hot to pick a lock, that kind of think came along with the line of work that he was in, but he didn't have any kind of tools that he need with him to help him open the door right now. Swearing under his breath Nick glanced around the room in time to notice Francis tearing apart one of the metal cots that were the bed.

"Francis what the hell are you doing son?" asked Bill watching a the man pulled one of the iron bars off the bed and walk over towards the door and swung it at the glass, the iron bar crack the glass but didn't do much more then that. Francis swore loudly throwing the bar to the ground.

"The glass is reinforced; we aren't getting out that easily," Nick stated annoyed.

Seconds later the lights began to flicker overhead and the entire room fell into darkness the men heard a click at the door and Nick looked at it before chucking. "Man if it wasn't for the zombie outbreak I'd be heading to Vegas, because we've got to be one luck group of bastards."

As the emergency backup lights lit the room up dimly Francis jumped into action. "I've got to find Zoey," moving towards the door, snatching up the bar that he had dropped seconds before, a weak weapon but it was all the man had right now, Bill called out to him before he disappeared.

"Right, Francis you go fine Zoey, and we'll find a way out of here, try to meet us where we arrived at a few days ago, if you're not back in an hour…" Bill couldn't force himself to state the rest of that sentence, however, Francis nodded knowing what Bill meant and rushed out the door.

"Nick catch!"

Nick looked up in time to notice that Louis had finished the job that Francis had started and made them all weapons out of the bed. He tossed Nick a bar before tossing one to Bill and keeping one for himself. Hopefully, hopefully they could find a way to get the hell out of her, and then maybe, they he could find out what happened to Coach, Ellis and Rochelle.

"Alright!" replied Nick, "let's get the hell out of here!"

* * *

Please Review!


	6. Chapter 6: Down With The Sickness

Chapter 6: Down With The Sickness.

_The sound of gunfire was heard from outside the stadium before Nick and Rochelle were close enough to see where it was coming from. A helicopter that was hovering overhead, the floodlight sweeping across the ground in front of them, disappeared into the stadium before them and Rochelle knew they had to hurry. Giving a glance over her shoulder at Nick, he gave her an encoring nodded and she smiled at him before continuing to run towards the stadium, they had to make it there before they left, Coach and Ellis were there waiting for them, they were going to make it, they had too… _

* * *

"Rochelle! Behind you!"

Rochelle turned in time to see a group of zombies hot on her heels, ready to knock her down. Using the butt of her gun to bash in the face of the zombie nearest her, she watched for a second at the zombie recoiled back in a grotesque way before it fell to the ground, tripping up some of the other zombies and not getting back up. She dropped her empty auto shotgun to the ground as the car alarms in the background echoed loudly in her ears as she ran her chest burning in protest as her lungs tried to capture air but couldn't. Coach and Ellis weren't that far a head of her now and she knew she'd be right behind them within seconds.

"This way!" cried Coach waving his arm in the in the air for Rochelle attention before grabbing his automatic rifle that was hanging off his shoulder by the strap and shot at a few zombies that were closing in on her.

Rochelle felt the tears start to sting at her eyes as she ran, as she pushed herself onward. She could hear Coach and Ellis calling to her but she didn't know if she could take it anymore. Her body was so exhausted.

She reached down pulling her pistol from a holder on her hip, and she shot at a few zombies that came from around the sides of mausoleums. Feet away now she threw he self into the safe room falling hard onto the floor to catch her breath, her gun went skidding across the floor and somewhere on the other side of the room, gasping for breath, he body screaming in pain, she heard the sound of the door to the safe room being slammed shut and Ellis and Coach both were crouched by the door trying to catch they breath as well. For a few minutes there was nothing but the sound of labored breathing and zombies scraping and pounding at the safe room door, but for now Rochelle knew she could relax for a second.

"Damn it boy! I told you to be careful around those damn cars Ellis."

"Sorry there Coach." replied Ellis adjusting his hat on his head when he stood up and leaned his sniper rifle against the door. "I had a clean shot on that zombie until that jet flew overhead. It caused me to jump and hit that car instead."

Coach mutter something about Ellis being too damn jumpy to wheeled a gun as he made his way across the room and to the table which had several boxes of useless ammo but a few shot gun rounds and several clips for their handguns.

Rochelle who was still out of breath moved into the sitting position and leaned against a nearby wall her head between her legs trying to catch her breath.

"Ro, you ok girl?"

Rochelle looked up and noticed Ellis was kneeling down by her touching her should in concern. Rochelle however smiled in return and nodded at Ellis. "Yeah." She whispered still panting for breath. Ellis seeming satisfied that Ro was ok he moved over to help Coach searching though the boxes of ammo leaving Rochelle by herself. After finally slowing her breathing to a normal rate she got to her shaky legs and moved around the safe room. It was just as small as the other ones that they had been in and was just as scarcely supplied. It seemed that way now a days. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse the longer you survived in this zombie hell. Trying to not feel defeated she moved and began to rummage though the shelves and finding a box of dry crackers and moldy bread. Reaching over and grabbing the box of crackers and opening it to find a single package in there about three-fourths of the way full. Tossing the empty box back up on the shelf she opened the package and emptied a few of them into her hand before walking over to Coach and Ellis and handing them the rest of the crackers. "Thanks baby girl."

"Yeah thanks Ro."

Nodding, Rochelle made her way over to the small tattered couch that was in the safe room and lay down upon it and rested her arm across her forehead and closed her eyes over and let her mind wander. It, however wasn't long before she was thinking of Nick again. She knew he wasn't dead. She felt it, but where was he? Was he even trying to find them? Or did he find better options? Was he rescued? All these thoughts were swirling though her head when Ellis' voice interrupt her thoughts.

"Hey Ro, you wanna take first shift or you want me too. You see coach isn't feeling to well, he cut up his leg pretty bad on one of the cars when we were running though the junk yard, which reminds me of this one time me and my buddy Keith were trying to get his truck out of the impound, you see we didn't she the no parking sign and we were only going to be a few minutes anyways and when they got his truck up on the toe truck Keith hopped in the back and the guy hadn't notice yet and began to drive off.. "

"I get the idea." Rochelle replied with a chuckle. "I'll take first shift ok. How's Coach's leg?"

"He didn't even notice it was bleeding until I pointed it out to him. He said it didn't even hurt but wrapped it up tight for him anyways. Like the time meet and Keith did a three leg race at the state fair. You see Keith was trying to impress this girl he had just met and the prize was tickets to this demolition derby so Keith...

"Thanks Ellis, I'm sure you did a great job on helping Coach. He'll appreciate it."

Ellis smile rubbing the back of his head with a chuckle. Rochelle got to her feet and turned to Ellis. "You wouldn't have happened to see where my gun went would you?" Asked Rochelle. "I dropped it when we came in and I don't have any idea where it went."

Ellis reached to his side and unhooked the gun from the holster at his waist. "Here Ro use mine."

She smiled at Ellis accepting the gun and walked over to the steel door of safe room. She watched Ellis hop into the couch it creaking underneath him. Rochelle grabbed a nearby bucket flipping it over and sitting on the bottom of it and rested the gun across her lap. Staring up at the night sky she sighed and tried for one to focus on the task at hand and not on Nick.

* * *

There wasn't much difference in wondering around in the dark military safe base then there was about being out in the dark streets of the city in Nick's option. In here just like out there most of the time you had no clue where the hell you were going, it was dark, deathly silent and smelt like rotting flesh. But unlike being out there you weren't as well armed, and that made Nick nervous. Tightening his grip on his steel pipe he followed closely behind Louis and Bill. The two of them seemed to have some unspoken understanding of what to do and it gave Nick a pain in the pit of his stomach sabotage reminded him of Ellis Coach and Rochelle. The three of them had become use to one another and had figured out how the other ticks, with this it was like starting over and he started to realize how much missed the others.

"Nick," called Bill, "keep up!"

Nick realized that the group had moved away from him when he hadn't been paying attention. Nick jogged to catch up to them as they rounded the corner however slammed into Louis' back when he turned the corner. Both Bill and Louis stood there watching something in the hallway and when Nick finally got a chance to see what they were looking at Nick groaned in annoyance. Five or Six zombies were all knelt in the middle of the floor chewing on three dead soldiers. It looked like they had been swarmed, by the several dead zombies that were already on the floor, but they hadn't lasted long.

"Jesus, you think the military would be able to handle themselves." Nick said in disdain.

"The only ones we can trust are the five of us." Louis mumbled tighten his grip on his weapon. The red lights circling over head blink off and a loud hum echoed around the building at the emergency lights returned. The hallway was lit a little bit more reveling several doors leading to a dead end.

"Come on let's get their guns," replied Bill. "We're going the wrong way anyways." He walked over, using his pipe like a baseball bat, hitting the nearest zombie in the head with the pipe. Crying out the zombie fell to the ground and lay there for a second before crawling back to its feet. However by the time the zombie had gotten up Bill had grabbed the AK-47 off the ground from the nearby solder and put a bullet between the zombie eyes killing it instantly. The other zombies who had been alerted by the gun fire were quickly taken care of by Bill each with a bullet of their own. Bill walked over snatching up the guns that were still on the floor and tossed one to Louis and Nick. Nick stood there for a second shocked by Bill. He was a bad ass for an old military guy. He had to admit.

"Come on, we've got to find Francis and Zoey and find a way to get the hell out of this place." Bill said as he placed the strap of the AK over his shoulder and walked back the way that they had came.

"Sounds good to me," Nick replied mumbling under his breath, "Not like we got much of a choice otherwise."

* * *

When the sun was barely stating to rise in the sky Rochelle felt a tap on his shoulder. Picking her head up off her arms and look around from where she was sitting on the floor, she met Ellis eyes. He had only replaced her an hour ago and she hasn't fallen asleep yet, but she wondered what was wrong. "Ellis, what's wrong honey?" She rubbing at her eyes she turned to Ellis and notice he was hesitant about what to say, and that _REALLY_ concerned Rochelle, Ellis, no matter the situation was never short of words. Rochelle got to her feet.

"Ro something's wrong with Coach."

Rochelle got to her feet almost instantly and made her way over to Coach who was now lying on the couch. He was sweat profusely and looked to be in server pain. Rochelle felt Coach's head and he was running a fever, but his skin was cold and clammy. Rochelle tried to tell herself not to panic. She could already see the panic and worry on Ellis' face and despite how worried that she was about Coach she need to take charge. "Ellis, get me the first aid kit. Coach is running a fever and I want to take care of that first."

With shaky hands Ellis grabbed the nearby medical kit and gave it to Rochelle. Rochelle opened the kit and swore under her breath. There wasn't much left in the kit at all. A small package of gauze, some anti-bacterial gel, band-aids, a small bottle of pills. She pulled the pills opened and grabbed a nearby water bottle and tilted Coach's head forward." Coach I need you to take this."

Coach opened his mouth and Rochelle slipped the pills inside his mouth. She placed the bottle of water against his lips and titled the bottle a little so her could drink it. Coach drank a little, enough to swallow the pills, but began to choke on the water. Coach began to cough violent and Rochelle sat him up trying to help him out as she looked at Ellis. "Remove his gauze and look at his wound and tell me what's going on with it."

Ellis nodded and moved down to Coach's leg. He pulled away the gauze that was around his leg and Ellis notice that the cuts on his leg had become scabbed over, however the scabbing looked gross and discolored. "R-Ro, this doesn't look good."

Rochelle moved next to where Ellis was sitting and examined the leg as well. She had no idea what to do about this, she was no nurse, but what could she do. She needed to help Coach.

"Alright, we've got to take care of this; we've got nothing to work with here." She got to her feet and walked across the safe room and to where Coach's gun was resting. She placed the AK over her shoulder and she checked the clip. There was enough in here for what she needed to do, and she was going to get it done. Nick wasn't here anymore, she needed to be strong and help out her family, or what was left of it. Replacing the clip she moved to the safe room door and pulled open the door that was blocking the doorway.

"Rochelle what are you doing?" asked Ellis getting to his feet and rushing over to the door to stop Rochelle.

"We have to go get some help for Coach, we don't have any supplies and Coach is sick and going to get worse if we don't get him some help. I'm going to find something for Coach, if I don't find anything I'll be back and we'll go back the way we came and try to find something else to help Coach, I need you to stay here with him Ellis."

"Yeah but Ro…"

"Ellis, we have to do this, I will be fine, please trust me."

Ellis paused, he knew he could trust Rochelle to find what they need to, to help Coach, but he didn't want her to got out there alone. "Alright Rochelle."

Rochelle smiled giving Ellis a peck on the cheek and a hug before walking out of the safe room. Her gun in her hand, ready to do whatever it takes to help Coach out. She could do it, she knows she could.

"Good luck." Whispered Ellis as he pulled shut the heavy safe room door and locked it behind him with the heavy bar.

* * *

Wow, ok, so I'm sorry I disappeared for such a long time, but I'm hoping that this chapter makes up for it. I really worked hard on this chapter and I hope you liked it. More to come soon (and it won't take me 7 months again I promise!)


	7. Chapter 7: Bulletproof Heart

Chapter 7: Bulletproof Heart

"Do we have any idea where we are going?" asked Nick, annoyed. They had been walking the halls of the underground base for a while now, and it was starting to feel more and more like they were back out in the dark streets. Every corner they turned was starting to look like the last and not only were there zombies seeming to appear out of every corner of this underground building, but they saw no sign of the military, figuring they had abandoned the base in the fighting, pulled back, or they were all already dead.

There was no response from Bill or Louis, and Nick almost wondered if the two of them were thinking the same thing, or were ignoring him, either way he wasn't sure if they could find their way out of here.

"Hey, over here!"

Nick looked up and noticed that Bill and Louis were standing in front of a large pair of double doors that were made up of reflective metal. This brought a smile to Nick's face this was the elevator to the surface that they had been looking for, they had found their way out of this underground hell and he couldn't be more relieved to see it. "Finally, I never thought we'd find out way out of this place."

Louis reached over and touched the button to summon the elevator before Bill knocked his hand away from the button. "Bill!" cried Louis.

"Son, you remember the last time we use an elevator at the hospital, we got swarmed – nearly overrun – by zombies, don't you think we should be a little more prepared before we touch that button?"

Louis retracted his hand and gripped his gun again. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Nick you want to help me find something to block the hallway?"

"Sure."

Nick and Louis walked into a nearby room, which were littered with papers, books – which were knocked out of the bookcase – and other knickknacks, as well as turned over office furniture. "Here grab the other side of this."

Nick walked around the other side of a long oak desk and the two of them dragged it out into the hallway. The loud wood squeaked on the cement floor and Nick cringed, if this didn't alert the undead to their location they didn't need to barricade the hallway because there was no undead around.

When they got the desk into the hallway they set it up so half of the hallway was blocked, after they got it set up they dragged out two of the bookcases and set them up along the desk, so that the small area the undead could get though looked like a **U**, to make sure that the undead couldn't easily get to them. Satisfied with their work they shut the door to the offices they came out of and walked back over to Bill who had just finished his cigarette and reached into his pocket to pull out and light another.

"We're all set Bill."

"Good, I guess we better get this show on the road then."

Bill reached over and pressed the button to summon the elevator and Nick tightened his grip on his gun and watched the hallway. He heard the elevator hum behind him as it descended, the lights flickering overhead, but the hallway remained quiet. There wasn't even the slightest moan of zombies anywhere nearby.

Confused Nick lowered his gun, was everyone gone, and was there really nothing that they need to worry about? He glanced over at the other two men that were standing next to him. Louis looked just as confused as he did, but Bill, Bill's face didn't falter – the smoke from his cigarette hanging heavy in the air – as the three of them waited in silence for the elevator. Seconds ticked by like minutes, and minutes like hours as they waited in suspenseful anticipation.

When the elevator reached the bottom floor, a resounding ding echoed throughout the hallway, and Nick glanced over his shoulder at the elevator. The interior was empty, the soft lights glowed overhead. "Well that was easy," stated Nick slowly letting the gun slip from his grip and hang over his shoulder just by its strap, he slowly walked towards the elevator, almost expecting it to be a trap, but when he entered he found it just as empty as it seemed.

"A little too easy." Louis replied.

Bill didn't say anything as he made his way over to the elevator and stood next to Louis and Nick his hand hovering over the button before glancing into the hallway opposite them.

"Bill, what about Zoey and Francis?"

Bill sighed pressing the button for the top floor, the doors sliding shut and the elevators slowly starting towards the surface, before he spoke; he took one last long inhale from his cigarette before dropping it to the concrete floor of the elevator and snuffing it out with his foot. "Hopefully they already found their way out and they are safe…"

Nick knew there was an 'and if not' implied to the end of that sentence, but it went unsaid. Everyone knew what happened if you got left behind, and Nick didn't want to think about it. It bought back too many bad thoughts about the people he loved, who got left behind as well.

* * *

The mid-morning air was damp, smelling of wet grass, mud and rotting flesh, a smell that, unfortunately, Rochelle had become accustomed to. But that's what happens when you live in a world of death; the death in the air was a constant lingering factor in her life now.

The sun was illuminating her path as she walked on; making her way through the overgrown grass and sneaking threw a broken chain-link fence, while her mind lingered on Coach and Ellis. She knew Ellis was smart enough to keep Coach and him safe till she could find help, but did she make the right choice leaving them behind. Should her and Ellis just had just doing a car and drove until the found a pharmacy or hospital or something that could have help. Did she do the right thing?

Shaking her head she tried not to think about it as she walked up a long creaky set of steps, the blue paint faded and chipped and sure to give her splinters if she ran her hand along the banister, and entered into the darken house.

Rochelle held her gun erect in front of her, tuning on the flashlight as she slowly walked around, and began exploring the house. Not large in size, the house contained very little in the way of furniture, and most of the personal effects had been either smashed or rummaged though by other survivors, so Rochelle wasn't expecting to find much.

This was what she found...nothing at all.

Frustrate, Rochelle kicked a nearby chair. What was she doing, she should just turn around and go back to Ellis and Coach. Sighing, she shook her head, she wasn't going to give up, she could be a leader, she could find something to help Coach and she would make Coach proud, she'd make Nick proud too.

Walking back out of the house she was about to walk down the creaky steps when she paused, when the sound of sobbing reached her ears.

Glancing down the street she noticed a witch walking down the street, covering her face and crying. Rochelle froze, she has had several bad experiences when it came to witches and she didn't want to relive those right now.

Moving back slowly to hide in the house to wait out the witch, the deck creaked loudly and suddenly Rochelle felt herself loose her foot as the deck broke and she fell to the ground fast and hard.

Rochelle hurt all over as she lay in the destroy rubble of what was the blue deck. Splinted and broke wood stabbed at her body making several bleeding puncture wounds in her skin, her head spun and her gun lay underneath the wood. But something that caught her attention was that there was no more crying. Sitting up she noticed the piercing eyes of the witch glowing at her, and Rochelle swore under her breath as she got her to her feet, weakly, and ran.

* * *

As the doors slid open, the mid-morning light invading their eyes, Nick shielded his eyes from the glare and glance around the deserted area. It was quiet out there, and that made Nick hesitate, if the base had gotten overrun by zombies, where were they now, they couldn't all still be within the compound or they would have seemed them. Glancing over his shoulder at Louis and Bill, who both held tight grips on their guns, he slowly turned back around and made his way out of the elevator, followed by the other two men.

As the men took the first tentative steps, the elevator door slammed shut loudly behind them, causing them to jump. When the roar of the undead reached their ears, Nick swallowed hard silently cursing himself under his breath, 'you couldn't just let a good thing go, could you Nick.'

"Shit!" cried Louis, "Here they come!"

The undead rushed out from every hidden corner, every nook, from everywhere. The undead were pouring upon them, screeching and clawing their way to get to them. Gun shots rang out before Nick realized what was happening and the sound snapped him into action. He pointed the gun out in front of him and fired at any undead that came charging at him.

They were getting swarmed; any ones that got close Nick swung his gun and hit them in the face temporarily knocking them back and away from him to give him some more breathing room, but it seemed like a futile act. There were so many undead swarming them.

Over the sound of their gunfire however, Nick hear a familiar screech, and that's when he saw it, the nasty toothpick figure with its nasty braided hair running down the sides of his head and its tatter clothing hanging off its body. "Spitter!" cried Nick, but the warning came too late, within a second the acid was already burning his feet.

Nick dove out of the way of the acid and into a set of bushes. The bushes scratched at his jacket and his skin and Nick batted away at the branches to climb back to his feet. Some nearby zombies along with the spitter came running towards him. Searching the ground for his gun it rested hanging on a nearby bush by its strap and he snatched it up quickly. Grabbing the gun and he batted away the zombie and shot the spitter in the head. Nick quickly tried to crawl out of the bushes and towards the sound of gunfire, towards Louis and Bill.

Seconds later he was next to Bill and Louis. However, they were overrun. "We're going to have to fall back into the military shelter; we can't keep going like this we are going to get overrun."

"Bill there was no other way out of the military compound. We've got to keep fighting and find a way to get out of here."

The loud roar of an engine caught Nick's attention. Headlights blinded his eyes and he shielded his eyes, a large military vehicle was roaring up the path towards them taking out all the zombies that were charging to them. When the vehicle reached the top of the hill it screeched to a stop and idled there for a second.

Nick, Louis and Bill slowly got to their feet and stared at the vehicle. The door opened slowly and the lights on the inside glowed as a figure stood in the doorway, and they were greeted by a familiar voice.

"Bill! Louis."

The figure moved from the doorway and ran over to Bill and Louis engulfing them in a tight hug. Bill, realizing who it was instantly let his gun sag and hug the person back. "Zoey, how the hell did you figure out how to drive a military tanker, and where is Francis, that dumb idiot was probably looking for you."

"That dumb idiot is right here Bill, and thanks for the vote of confidence."

They glanced up at the tanker again and realize that Francis was standing in the doorway, a smug smile on his face as he made his way down the ramp and towards the group.

"You stole a military transport vehicle?" asked Louis walking over to the idling tanker that was sitting in front of them. Although he wouldn't admit it, there was a hint of amusement and delight in his voice.

"It's not like those military pansies were using it anyways, we found about six of them sitting there idling in the base and most of the people guarding them were either dead or ran away when the zombies starting showing up, so I figured why let a good thing go to waste."

"Sound like a plan to me."

"Well let's blow this Popsicle stand and figure out where we are going next, any ideas kids?" asked Bill lighting up a fresh cigarette and making his way towards the idling military vehicle.

"I hear California's nice this time of year" Piped Francis.

"Shut up Francis," replied Bill as the four of them entered the vehicle; Nick however lingered in the door just for a second, hoping that maybe Rochelle, Coach or hell even Ellis would show up. However when Bill called to him he didn't hesitate a second longer as the door shut behind them and they drove away from the base, and hopefully to find a safe area.

* * *

Hi! I'm back. I would have had this chapter up sooner, but I've been down with the worst flu that I have ever experience in my life. I missed five days of work, and most of them were spent in bed with every kind of symptom that I could think and the other half was spent with my best friend the toilet, but I am back. I had this chapter planned out and it came to life pretty quickly, I'm really proud of this chapter; it feels like it flows so much better then the last two I had written. Anyways, more to come rather quickly, I already have half of Chapter 8 written, if I don't get too distracted by the new game I just bought (**Catherine**, has anyone played that, that game is so awesome and so freaky at the same time) so keep an eye out for that!


	8. Chapter 8: Fallen

Hi, thank to the two review I got last chapter, but since they didn't leave a name (nickname or whatever) I can't say thanks personally but thanks anyways. Um...this chapter is a bit of a sad one. Really sad, but please just continue reading. I promise it will end happy. So here's chapter 8.

* * *

Chapter 8: Fallen

Rochelle was terrified – praying that her situation was just a bad nightmare – as she ran on. She could hear the witch screaming at the top of her lungs as it chased down, an easy target, weaponless and defenseless. Her body begged her to stop as she ran to the point of exhaustion, her lung aching for air that she couldn't pull in, but if she stopped she would be witch bait.

Rochelle ran though another yard and into a partially destroyed house, hoping to throw the witch off her trail. She moved though the house and out the back door, climbing over the destroyed rubble that was once a fence, when she reached the edge of the small backyard.

Hoping the witch had forgotten about her she took a quick glance over her shoulder she saw that the witch was still right behind her, her long white fingernails – sharp as razors and dripping with the blood of her last victim still fresh on them – glittering in the sunlight of the high afternoon sun.

"Shit!" swore Rochelle, whipping her head back around, but she wasn't quick enough to not trip over the rusted over bike that way laying in the middle of the path that she running down.

The earth came up quickly to meet her and Rochelle rolled a few feet down the dirt path that she was on before coming to a rest on her back staring up at the blue sky above her head. She could still hear the witch screaming and she knew that she need to get back up, it was going to kill her if she didn't, but she couldn't move as the cold tears slid out of her eyes. This was it, she was going to die!

The second she caught sight of the witch – her blood red eyes glaring at her – ready for the kill, her blood claws raised in the air ready to rip and slash at her skin till it killed her, Rochelle closed her eyes. Tears still pour out of her eyes as she waited for the pain, she couldn't fight anymore, she was just too tried...

The sound of gun fire reached her ears and suddenly she felt the cold splash of blood splatter across her face, not her own. Fearful for a moment, as if she imagined the sound of the gunfire, Rochelle waited for a moment till she felt the witch falling off her.

When Rochelle opened her eyes again she saw the witch, dead in a pool of her own blood, lying next to her. Rochelle looked around for her savor and that's when she saw him, and she couldn't have been more then grateful to see him in her entire life. "Ellis!" she cried quickly getting to her feet and rushing over to hug the boy.

Ellis stumbled a little bit, taken back by the hug, as the two of them stood there for a moment in the embrace, which Rochelle pulled away she noticed big smile on the boy's face, along with the hint of a blush, and that caused her to smile, however that smile faultier when a sudden realization hit her. "Wait…why are you here, what about Coach…"

The smile faded from Ellis lips as he looked away from Rochelle, and Rochelle pulled away from Ellis, a horrified look crossing her face. "Ellis, what happened to Coach?"

She could see the tears starting to fall out of Ellis' eyes as he tried not to meet Rochelle's and Rochelle felt the tears return to her own. Ellis couldn't mean what she though he meant. "Ellis…"

Ellis was sobbing now as he walked over and hugged Rochelle, and Rochelle felt herself break down inside. She couldn't believe it…Coach was gone…

The two of them sat in silence as darkness overtook the sky outside. They hadn't said a word to one another since Ellis had saved her from the witch. When Ellis and Rochelle had both stopped crying the two of them had began walking, in complete silence. Ellis had lent Rochelle her handgun, since she had lost her weapon, and once it started getting dark outside they had been lucky enough to find a small house that had a large metal storm door on the front and a living room with to small windows that had bars on them. The had barricaded the only other entrance to the living room and decided that they would spend the night there and wait till first light to begin moving again. They didn't have much choice otherwise. Both of them were emotionally exhausted and drained.

Using their flashlights and sitting close together, for warmth even though their shaking wasn't because they were cold, Rochelle and Ellis tried their best to not look at one another in fear that they would break down crying again if they did. Rochelle was hurting, deep in her heart. Coach had been practically like her father, hell he was the whole group's father, even if Nick wouldn't have agreed with it, and they had lost one of their family member today, it hurt, it hurt so bad…

"It looks like it's just the two of us now huh…" Ellis' voice softly breaking the tension in the room; Rochelle nodded silently as she just stared into the darkness. Sniffling softly she rubbed at her nose and didn't say anything else as the room feel back into silence.

She herd Ellis move in the dark room and she glanced over at him noticing that he was trying to get into a more comfortable position. "We…we should try to get some sleep Ro…we've got to keep moving…"

"I don't know if I can do it anymore Ellis," whispered Rochelle, he voice laced with sadness and the tears that were about to spill over at any minute. "We've lost so much already, and where has it gotten us? We are no closer to finding the military, we can't get away from these things, these zombies, I just don't know if I can run anymore, I so sick of fighting."

"Ro, Coach and Nick wouldn't want you to give up!"

Rochelle shook her head, the tears spilling over as she began to sob softly. She lay back on the floor of the living room and rolled onto her side facing away from Ellis as she cried. Ellis reached over and touched her shoulder softly, but Rochelle shrugged him off as she continued to cry softly. Ellis, feeling his own pain return to his chest walked over and sat against the wall, his sniper riffle resting across his lap.

Ellis felt the tears sting his eyes as he sat there in the darkness listing to Rochelle sob. Adjusting his had upon his head he rested his elbows on his knees and his head fell into his hand as he cried too until both of them fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

_Ellis had been up for several hours since Rochelle had left. The sunlight was just starting to rise high the in the sky now and Ellis was nervous. What if she didn't make it back, what if she couldn't find them again, what if she got killed? All of these thoughts raced though Ellis' mind as he stared out into the world on the other side of this large door._

_His thoughts were interrupted though by the sound of Coach crying out in pain. Getting to his feet quickly he got to Coach's side almost instantly and found him clutching at the couch that he was sitting on. "Coach, what is it, what's wrong?"_

_He didn't say anything, his body writhing in pain, the sweat pouring off his forehead. Ellis quickly made his way over to the first-aid kit that Rochelle had used the first time to retrieve some of the pain medication that Rochelle had used before, it seemed to satisfy the pain before and it would work now until she got back._

_He turned back around to Coach and noticed the man way lying still, Ellis hesitated as he walked over to Coach, his body not moving on the couch, and knelt by his side. "C-Coach, are you ok Coach?"_

_Ellis looked up and down Coach to see if he was ok, and that's when he noticed that Coach wasn't breathing. Ellis quickly got to his feet tossing the pain pills from his hand and knelt over Coach his ear by Coach's face listing for any sign of breathing. There wasn't any._

"_Shit!"_

_Ellis tried to remember anything about what to do when a person was breathing, all those times with Keith he should know something about this, but he couldn't think. His mind was racing too much to focus and his hands were shaking so bad._

"_Shit shit shit! What do I do?" Ellis curse loudly "Come on Coach, breathe! Breathe Coach!"_

_Ellis took a hold of Coach's head, Coach's lips already turning blue from lack of oxygen, and tilted his head back. Opening Coach's mouth he took some deep breaths and blew into Coach's mouth Ellis' air filling his lungs. Doing this a couple of times Ellis began compressions on Coach's chest, pumping on it a few time and returning to his mouth to fill his lungs again._

_Ellis didn't know how long he did this for, but when Coach gave no response his fingers when to Coach's neck to feel for a pulse. There was none._

"_N-No…No No." Ellis sobbed, tears falling down his face and onto Coach's body. "You can't die Coach, please don't do this, Coach!"_

_Ellis when back to Coach's face and suddenly met Coach's eyes, however, they weren't Coach's, these eyes were glazed over and distance. Ellis stumbled backwards in fear and watched as Coach got to his feet slowly. A moan escaped from his lips, sounding more and more like a zombie groan in Ellis' ears and he scrambled backwards if fear._

"_Wait, Coach Stop!" cried Ellis moving backwards from the man that was stumbling towards him, when Ellis hit the back he glanced behind him and then back at Coach, but this wasn't the man that he once knew, this wasn't the man that had his back before, and it wasn't the man that was his friend, it was a zombie, and it was going to kill him._

_Turning quickly to make his way to the safe room door Ellis stumbled over his sniper riffle that was resting against the frame of the doorway. Sweating profusely Ellis reached over snatching up the sniper riffle and holding it. Coach never faultier however as he continue moving towards him. Ellis felt the tears fall out of his eyes as he aim at Coach, closing his eyes just as he pulled the trigger._

* * *

Ellis sat up with quickly feeling a cry escape his lips. The dream quickly fading from his mind he felt a hand rest on his should and he jumped noticing Rochelle sitting next to him. Feeling the tears return, Rochelle pulled Ellis into a tight hug as he sob, soaking her pink midnight rider's shirt.

Rochelle whispered soft words to him, not understanding what she was saying as the two of them sat together in the hug, silent other then the sound of Ellis crying. That moment however was interrupted by the roar of a large vehicle outside.

Rochelle and Ellis looked at one another before they quickly broke apart, grabbing their weapons and ran towards the storm door and pulling it open. The early morning sunlight lit up the street as they exited the house and onto the street.

* * *

A large military transport vehicle was moving away from them down the street, smashing into cars and running over undead as it moved forwards. Ellis glanced at Rochelle and she nodded at as the two of them took off down the street after the vehicle.

The areas were all starting to look familiar as they drove down the street, Bill at the wheel of the vehicle. They had been driving all night and despite nodding off for a few seconds Nick hadn't slept a wink. His mind was still racing as he thought of his friends, especially Rochelle. He wondered what happened to them. If they had made it to a military base, he worried that that base had been overrun just like Nick's had been. Could they have gotten out alive?

Glancing over at Francis and Zoey who were resting on the bench across from them, Zoey's head in Francis' lap as she slept; Francis' stroking her hair softly, Nick felt a pain of jealousy hit him. Shuffling in his seat trying to ignore it Nick close his eyes over and tried to get some sleep, hoping that Bill and Louis knew where they were going.

"Hey!" cried Louis jolting Nick quickly out of his seat and he glance over at Louis who was in the passenger seat. "Bill wait, there's some people chasing us down, they look like they need help."

"Son, how do you know those aren't zombies we just missed?"

"Last time I check Bill, zombies didn't use guns." Replied Francis smartly, he joined Bill and Louis at the front of the vehicle. Nick rose to his feet and walked to the front joining Bill and Louis and took a glance at what Bill and Louis were seeing and felt a lump instantly hit his throat.

* * *

Ellis and Rochelle continue to run after the military transport vehicle but it didn't look like they saw them or, if they did, cared exactly. Rochelle felt her tired legs slow down and she fell behind, Ellis still trying to flag down the vehicle but Rochelle stopped trying to catch her breath. It was useless, the military didn't care anymore, and they were going to die out here just like Coach has…She felt a lump build in her throat, and she tried to swallow it away, but it wouldn't leave.

"Rochelle!" called Ellis and she quickly looked up and saw that twenty feet away the military transport vehicle had stopped. She quickly felt herself move as she ran towards Ellis who was standing at the back of the vehicle. As soon as she joined him the back of the vehicle opened the back tailgate falling at their feet and someone stepped out onto the ramp.

Rochelle couldn't believe it, the person standing at the end of the ramp, he was alive and she felt herself move quickly to him and fell into his arms as he hug her with a smile. "I knew you were alive Nick," she whispered softly into the man's chest.

* * *

...And they are back together again. Alright everyone, I know most of you hate me. Killing off Coach was something that I never planned on doing. But when I started writing this chapter I realized that there was only a few things I could do without this story making no since and having no concept of time or place. Ellis wouldn't leave an injured Coach alone while he searched for Rochelle, Nick wouldn't be able to reach her in time to save her, let alone know where she was, and Rochelle lost her weapon in the last chapter when the deck broke, I couldn't think of any other way to save Rochelle then having Ellis come save her, but that meant that something would have happened to Coach...yeah its not much of an excuse and I'm really sorry if I pissed some people off by killing him. It was on the hardest things I've ever had to write. Please don't hate me.

Um...Review Please?


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